Owning the voice of our inner prophetess
For too long the wise women have been silent, isn't it time we spoke up?
How many times have you wanted to say “I told you so”?
How many times have you said “I told you so” – or anything else that others didn’t quite understand or agree with – and found yourself being vilified as a result?
Years ago, I worked with a teacher who used to use the line “speak your truth, even if your voice shakes”.
Back then I would listen to her say those words and think “that sounds wonderful. But when I speak my truth, nobody seems to listen, no matter how clear my voice is.”
And the older I get, the more I think that’s often just as big a fear for many of us: That no matter how deeply I listen to and share my intuitive voice, what if I find that no one listens?
The prophetesses of the past and the present
The story of Cassandra tells us of a prophetess who was cursed to see the future but never to have er sight believed; who watched as her city burned to the ground, unable to do anything because, quite simply, she wouldn't be believed.
I wonder sometimes what Cassandra thought as her city was burning around her. It likely wasn’t “I told you so”, but I dare bet a part of her thought, “ffs why didn’t you just listen?!” And haven’t we all thought that from time to time?
We live at a time when the whole world seems to be burning. And when the terrifying prophecies of many wise voices seem to be coming to pass, no matter how loudly they screamed their warnings.
Of course no one wants to say “I told you so” – what we’re witnessing is far too terrifying and heartbreaking for that. But how often do we want to say “I wish you’d listened”? Or “I wish you’d acted more quickly”?
How often do we want to point to the ways that those who tried to warn us weren’t just ignored but were mocked, vilified, often even persecuted for daring to speak the truth?
It makes me think of the Morrigan – a woman who stepped onto the battlefield and raised her voice to prophesise the end of the world. She may have sent her enemy screaming from the field, but she was also vilified for centuries as a terrifying harbinger of doom.
We know her story, just like Cassandra’s, isn’t an isolated one. Throughout so much of recorded time, women’s voices have been silenced and shamed – especially when those voices spoke truth that others couldn’t see or here.
But it wasn’t always this way.
The women whose voices were trusted
Once upon a time, the emperors of the ancient world would consult prophetesses, oracles, and witches regularly. And that wasn’t just for guidance about the small fun things like when they’d meet a beautiful maiden, or what might be waiting for them at the end of their current quest.
No, the seers would be consulted for the big stuff: To strategise ahead of a battle, to know which cabinet members could be trusted and which could not, to decide the sentences for criminals and to work out which part of the world to try to colonize next as they continued their march for global domination (I didn’t say these were good things to ask about).
So what happened?
It would be simple to think that the prophetesses just stopped being believed, but that’s not what happened. At least not at first.
First came the point where the powers that be got tired of the power these seers had over emperors and empires; a power they could never dream of commanding since these people had no ways of connecting to the wisdom the oracles could access.
And so they set about changing that, working hard to discredit the voices of the oracles and to drive a wedge between them and all who had once consulted to them until bit by bit and voice by voice, that sight stopped being trusted not only by the emperors, but by the women themselves.
Until woman by woman, we stopped not only trusting ourselves but also daring to share our voices. No matter how much wisdom they carried.
Now is the time for that to change.
We find ourselves in a time where we can no longer be silent; a time when the world needs us to believe in what we have to share. To believe that we have something to share.
Because that’s something I’ve learned in a lifetime of working with Spirit, and in over 20 years of doing that same work formally: that every single one of us has a connection that provides us with more insight than we give ourselves credit for.
And that every one of us has the ability to speak truth in some way. The only thing that’s stopping us is the belief in ourselves.
In this winter’s Re-weaving Our Stories course, I'll be working with you to reclaim all of the labels that have been taken over the years not only to you personally but to all of us collectively.
One of the labels I wish we’d all reclaim more fully is that of prophetess. I see the world that can unfold when that happens more broadly.
That’s why, this month, I’m running a workshop on Reclaiming the Prophetess Within, which takes place on 17th October and is completely free to attend.
In it, we’ll use meditation, storytelling, conversation, and spirit channelling to journey with stories such as those of Cassandra, the Morrigan, and the oracles of Delphi. And of course, to journey with your own inner prophetess.
Our aim for the evening will be to call in that wise Oracle and to put her back at the very centre of your own knowing and your own expression.
Because the world needs your sight and your voice. Aren’t you just a little curious to see what they have to share?